Joe Carr, the conservative who is challenging Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in an August primary, blasted Alexander for calling for National Guard troops on the border a year after he voted for the Senate’s amnesty bill which many believe contributed to the border crisis. 

Carr is also running statewide ads on radio reminding voters in Tennessee that Alexander is refusing to debate him on the issues, particularly immigration.

“After recklessly voting for an amnesty that paved the way for the current border crisis, Senator Alexander is trying to fool Tennesseans by pretending to be strong on border security,” Carr said on Wednesday. “If he were really serious about permanent solutions to this growing epidemic, Senator Alexander would sign FAIR’s ‘No Amnesty’ pledge, as I have done, and permanently abandon his war on Tennessee’s working families.”

Carr, whom the Tea Party Patriots have endorsed, continued to to hammer Alexander on the amnesty issue in the ad buy, in which he says Alexander conveniently has not mentioned that law enforcement officials had warned him that the Senate’s amnesty bill would cause a spike in the number of illegal immigrant children crossing the border.

“I’m running because voters deserve a conservative alternative to Lamar Alexander’s liberal voting record,” Carr says. “But Lamar doesn’t want to discuss the issues and has refused to debate. Instead, he says voters just need to go his website. That’s right – Lamar says he doesn’t have time to debate; instead he wants us to read his website.”

Carr points out that “the problem is, Lamar’s website doesn’t tell you that immigration authorities warned him that his amnesty vote would create a border crisis” and “doesn’t tell you that he voted with Democrats to pass a bill creating a border crisis by giving amnesty to 11 million illegal aliens.”

“Lamar’s website doesn’t tell you a lot of things. It’s a shame that Lamar won’t debate. Tennesseans deserve better.” Carr says. “Lamar, if you’re listening, my offer still stands. Let’s debate. Let’s have an honest discussion about the issues.”